http://www.flickr.com/photos/frozenchipmunk/ / CC BY 2.0

The situation is out of control.

• 6-year-old Cub Scout faces 45 days in a reform school for taking a utensil to school
• 8-year-old suspended for sniffing a marker
• 13-year-old strip searched under suspicion that she had ibuprofen

I have been baffled by the enforcement of no-tolerance policies in schools across the nation. There are 22 states that are still using corporal punishment in schools, and the media is concerned about a 6-year-old with a spork. How very logical–not!

The first issue is the severity of the punishment for these grade-school crimes. How can you hold a child accountable for something he does not understand and the school board cannot actually rationalize? If the school board is trying to promote the fact that these behaviors are unacceptable, wouldn’t detention,–or in the case of the 6-year-old timeout–work?

The underlying issue is why these “offenses” became offenses in the first place. Sniffing a marker is typical behavior for an 8-year-old as far as I’m concerned.

The makers of no-tolerance policies in schools are not being held accountable for their decisions as to what is and what is not acceptable. A parent’s response when they find their family in a situation such as this is to start a long legal process in attempt to rectify wrongs.

What can we do to put an end to the suffering of children and families who are victims to these senseless no-tolerance policies?